Review of Ratatouille (2007) by Adam F — 24 Dec 2012

"Ratatouille" is a very smart and very beautiful movie that will have you laughing and leave you hungry, but a bucket of popcorn might not do it after seeing the fancy cuisine generated by Pixar.

There's of good stuff here, great voice acting and character design, well developped characters that actually have dreams and ambitions beyond what's obvious ("Linguini" for example, doesn't only want to be respected and have friends, he also wants to get the girl, get a decent job and get out of his tiny apartment), a love plot that makes sense and is a lot of fun to see unfold, some great comments about cooking and criticism and a lot of subtle details that are fun to notice when you re-watch the film ("Anton Ego" has a typewritter that is shaped like a skull and an office that's shaped like a coffin, something you probably didn't catch the first time around).

Best of all, it's tightly written, isn't predictable and is good for kids, but it's the adults that will really get a kick out of this, since they'll really understand what cooking is like and how funny and absurd the whole concept of the film is.

It's not only a good film about cooking and rising above the expectations that people put on you, it's a great film about all of that and a whole lot more. (Blu-ray, December 20, 2012).